In this moment

chapter nine: bench

Dreams thoughts, third person POV:

Dream walks through the front door, with a half-full bag of twin snakes thatd he'd eaten in the car and chocolate raisins.

"Gogs, i'm home with your grandma candy!" He calls up to George, who gives no reply. He sets his candy on the table beside the couch and begins walking up the stairs. He walks to George's room and sees he's not there.

"George?"

He hears George crying softly from Dreams room. He immediately rushes over, the closer he gets the harder he begins to cry, at this point he's sobbing. George let out a loud wail, with all that his lungs could give. He had so much pain in his voice, like he just watched someone die in front of his own two eyes. Dream swung the door open with no hesitation.

"what's wrong?"

He saw George sitting on his his bed with his hands on his face, sobbing. He looked shocked as Clay walked in. He removed his hands to reveal his puffy, blood shot eyes and red spotted face. His collar was covered in snot and tears, as well as his hands. Dream let his eyes travel down to see his suicide letters, confessing his love for George, spread across his bed. His whole body got numb, and his heart started pounding out of his chest. He felt his whole world turn upside down, he wishes gravity didn't exist so he could just fall off and be gone forever.

"Clay."

Clay was in shock. His body was actually going into shock. He turned around and ran for the stairs, getting deja vu as he ran down them as fast as he could, yet feeling like he was stuck in slow motion. He got a flashback of running down the stairs for the keys, but he wasn't fast enough. It was all his fault. It was his fault for not noticing he was struggling. It was his fault for not being strong enough to kick down the door. It was his fault for tripping on his dishes going down the stairs. It was his fault for not knowing which key it was. It was his fault for passing out. It was all his fucking fault. Before he knew it he was standing at the bottom of the stairs screaming as loud as he could. He could tell he was screaming but he couldn't hear it. He didn't feel George come behind him and wrap his arms around him. He didn't hear George tell him he couldn't loose him. He tuned everyone, and every thing out. He didn't want to have to hear the love of his life tell him he wasn't good enough. He didn't want to have to feel the pain of loosing his best friend, then the love of his life. He didn't want any of it. He fell to his knees and continued to scream.

"I'm sorry Marcus, it's all my fault" He wailed loudly, grabbing his own hair in his hands and pulling as hard as he could.

"it's okay Clay, it's okay" George had toughened up, realizing it wasn't about his own feelings right now. He held Clay in his arms while he sobbed, both sitting on the hard wood floor on their knees. They just sat and hugged for 5 minutes letting Clay scream into his shoulder.

"let it out, it's okay. i'm right here, okay?"

Clay finally came out of shock. He realized where he was, who he was with, and what had just happened. He immediately stood up and ran out of the front door. He didn't get into his car, he didn't have his phone, his wallet, any warm clothes, not even a plan. He just ran as fast as he could. George tried to follow but was no where near as fast as the former soccer player. He lost him after about only 20 seconds of running, with him screaming for him to come back.

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Georges thoughts, third person POV:

George stopped running with one final "Clay, please stop!". So there he was, in America, on the side of the road in nothing but a white tee shirt and some shorts, on the verge of a panic attack. George had no idea what to do. He couldn't chase him, he couldn't just sit around and wait, and he didn't want to call the police. Not knowing what to do, he called the only person other than clay he could count on.

"well hi there muffin head, how are y-"

"C- C- Clay, i found his like su- suicide notes an- an- and he started running and i, i don't know what to do, i can't chase him and i can't, i can't breathe, and i'm having a. panic. attack." on the last word he started sobbing.

"okay okay, just breathe George it's okay. Where are you right now?"

"I- I don't even know i just r- ran after him and he's gone and i don't know where i am. Clay was gonna kill him- him self and he said he loved me on the note an- an- an- and you ha- had- one too and i-"

"okay George stop talking, you're scaring yourself more. Okay what are 5 things you can see?"

"i don't fucking know bad this doesn't fu- fucking help me. Help me."

"just name 5 things you can see Gogs, trust me"

"uh uh uh ok ok. shorts, road, phone, hou- house. I can't think of anymore bad, what if dream ki- kills himself right now and i- i'm jsut fucking sitting here"

"George stop. What are 4 things you can touch?"

"skin, uh road, grass, and shirt"

"good, 3 things you can hear?"

"ocean, cars, you."

"almost done. 2 things you can smell?"

"salt water and my lotion"

"feel better at all?"

"thank you."

"no problem, now can you tell me what's going on now you can talk?"

"i was in Dreams room and i saw a box, well multiple boxes and one had cute baby pictures of hi-"

"George"

"sorry. i found a box with suicide notes to all of us. and in mine he confessed he was in love with me, and has been for 5 years. Then he walked in on me reading them, and i was crying and he ran down the stairs and then started screaming and i hugged him and he cried to me for like five minutes and i thought he was okay but then he got up and"

"George, you're getting yourself all worked up again, deep breaths. Everything is okay. Go back to his house if you can walk, if not i'll buy you an uber"

"no it's fine i can walk, thank you bad. i really didn't know who to call"

"no problem. please keep me updated and make sure he's safe okay?"

"okay, thank you. bye"

He walked back into clays house and sat on the couch. He called clay, then realized his phone was on the table. He tried to relax and wait for him to come back but he just couldn't. He grabbed dreams keys and ran into the garage, despite his absence of license. He opened it and pulled off as fast as he could. He drove in the direction dream ran and prayed he didn't make any turns. After only about 2 minutes of driving he spotted him, sitting on a bench with his knees to his chest. He pulled the car over and walked down to sit next to him. When he sat down, Clay leaned his head on his shoulder.

"can we go home?"

-word count : 1277-